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Cryptocurrency Midday Report

May 31, 2018

Monster products, maker of Beats headphones has applied for a USD$300mm initial coin offering (ICO). The firm will aim to sell 500mm Monster Money Network (MMNY) tokens, which would represent 60% of total funding in its ICO. A platform will be built on the Ethereum (ETH) blockchain will be developed featuring: Monster Money Wallets, transaction processing, micro-transactions and a platform that caters to businesses. Additionally, the company will allow token holders to convert their tokens into common stock after June 2020.

Huboi, a Chinese cryptocurrency exchange, is going to be opening operations in Brazil. Members of the exchange were seen distributing name cards at a local event and talking to well-known individuals in the Brazil cryptocurrency industry. The firm had recently relocated to Singapore after China banned crypto trading and the firm continues to expand globally as it is rumored the exchange is looking to open in Canada as well.

Cornell University professor, Emin Sirer, noted that it would take less than USD$1mm per day to successfully carry out a 51% attack on proof-of-work consensus blockchains. A firm called 51crypto, has demonstrated that small cryptocurrencies such as Bytecoin (BGN) can be attacked with less than USD$1,000 per hour. Recently, Verge (XVG) has suffered two 51% attacks in the past month. In contrast, cryptocurrency investment firm PDB Capital managing partner Hussam Abboud has said that the traditional method to calculate the cost of a 51% attack is not practical.

An independent rating agency, Weiss Ratings, has published a list of 93 cryptocurrency ratings. The firm has been in existence since 1971 and rates stocks, ETFs, mutual funds etc. The firm has ranked cryptocurrencies on: risk, reward, technology, & adoption. The firm is using an alphabetical rating system comprised of “A = excellent, B = good, C = fair, D = weak, and E = very weak”. Currently no cryptocurrencies are rated with an “A” rank.

A recently run study shows that 29% of Germans are interested in Investing in cryptocurrencies. For individuals aged from 18 to 34, about 50% said they were interested in digital currencies. As for reasons why, men and women are interested in cryptocurrencies, 60% of women said the most important aspect of cryptos were that they are independent form established financial systems. Additionally, a third of the individuals polled who said they are interested in cryptos said that anonymity is one of the reasons they are interested in cryptos